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Banquet/silent auction to benefit School Fuel

School Fuel is solely operated by volunteers, which keeps the operation costs low and maximizes the number of children they are able to feed.Photo courtesy of School Fuel

Submitted by School Fuel

School Fuel, a local nonprofit providing weekend food to 671 hungry elementary school children each weekend, will host its “Fill the Tank” Banquet and Silent Auction on Tuesday, May 15.

The annual event is to be held at the First Baptist Church, 325 W. McCarty Lane at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door or $215 for a reserved table for eight. To secure tickets send an email to SchoolFuel2013@yahoo.com or call 512-667-4241. All proceeds will be used to purchase the food provided to hungry children.

School Fuel began as a pilot program in the spring of 2013 with 31 children identified by the SMCISD as “homeless.”

The dramatic improvement in those children’s ability to focus on school work and work cooperatively was so obvious funds were raised to provide for more than 200 children who lacked adequate food over the weekend in the fall. Since that time School Fuel has grown to serve all six SMCISD elementary schools, providing food for 671 children each weekend of the school year.

There are additional children in the elementary schools who don’t have adequate food over the weekend who aren’t yet receiving School Fuel and there are also students in the middle schools who need weekend food support. School Fuel is working now to raise the funds needed to add these students. No student is ever added to the program until an entire year’s funding has been secured.

School Fuel is funded by local individuals, civic organizations, businesses and foundations. The $215 per school year per child is a small investment to keep a student in school through graduation. Statistics show that food insecure children often fall behind and leave school before graduation. These children also are more likely to have negative consequences into adulthood so keeping students in school is vital to both their individual health and the health of the community.

Most Recent Poll

The inclusion of a Craddock Avenue extension through environmentally sensitive land in a presentation on the city's Transportation Master Plan at Tuesday's city council meeting raised questions.

The potential extension, that would extend Craddock to Lime Kiln Road and Interstate 35 on a route above Sink Creek, is listed as a conservation corridor in the thoroughfare plan.

There currently are only two routes that connect traffic between Interstate 35 and areas west now – Wonder World Drive and through downtown. The Craddock Avenue extension would divert the traffic that is moving through downtown to other areas, but could present some potential environmental issues.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, or CAMPO, started a regional arterial study in the middle of last year and when it is finished, it could show potential alternatives to the Craddock extension that CAMPO would be interested in funding.

The council is set to vote on the Transportation Master Plan on June 5.

Yes, it would ease traffic downtown sooner.

No, it's an environmentally-sensitive area and the city should wait for CAMPO options.